Getting with the Times: Philip Stern’s The Company-State

Historian as Detective: Eric Cline’s 1177 B.C.

The Best Kind of Revision: Alan Alport’s Britain at Bay

Big Strategy: Ian Morris’s Geography is Destiny

Life at the Top: Toby Wilkinson’s The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt

Imperial Free-for-All: William Dalrynmple’s The Anarchy

The Face of Trauma: HBO’s Wartorn 1861-2010

Lesser than the Sum of its Parts: Dominic Lieven’s In the Shadow of the Gods

Pell-Mell Towards the Abyss: David Nichols’ Eisenhower 1956